Gothenburg freezes tariffs again

The Port of Gothenburg has opted for the third year in succession not to increase the charges set out in its Port Tariff

Gothenburg Port Authority (GHAB - Göteborgs Hamn AB) has opted to keep its Port Tariff unchanged for the third consecutive year. Hence the charges for 2018 will be on the same level as 2015.

Port charges are naturally levied on all vessels that call at the Port of Gothenburg. The charges are based on vessel type and gross tonnage, and are used to finance a range of activities, including fairway maintenance, traffic information and port safety.

By holding the 2015 tariff for a third year, "we are seeking to boost growth in industry, shipping and port operations," said Magnus Kårestedt, Gothenburg Port Authority's CEO. At the same time, we want to be part of the effort to curb rising logistics costs for our stakeholders.”

According to Kårestedt, GHAB has managed to avoid the need for tariff increases through good cost control. It hopes that this "will inspire other companies and organisations involved in logistics operations to review their charges. If we all share the responsibility for making logistics more cost effective, this will prove crucial to our stakeholders’ competitiveness.”

A system is already in place whereby good environmental performance is rewarded with a discount on the port charge at the Port of Gothenburg. Two globally recognised indices are used as a basis for the discount system, for which one third of vessels that call at the port are eligible. Vessels that switch to running on liquefied natural gas, LNG, receive a further discount.

“We expect a significant rise next year in calls by vessels running on LNG, and there will be a resulting rise in the number that qualify for our LNG discount. The transition that is taking place is encouraging, and we look forward to welcoming more LNG-powered vessels to the port with a 20 per cent discount per call,” said Magnus Kårestedt.

New for 2018 is that GHAB will be extending the discount period for calls by cruise ships, which will now run through to the end of December. The port hopes that this will lead to more calls and in turn more cruise passengers enjoying their Christmas shopping "in the true Gothenburg spirit."